Ilczyszyn v. Southwest Airlines Co.

Filed 6/8/22 ; Certified for Publication 6/29/22 (order attached)

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION ONE

KELLY ILCZYSZYN et al., Plaintiffs and Appellants, A158352 v. SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO., (Alameda County Super. Ct. No. RG15766954) Defendant and Appellant.

Southwest Airlines passenger Richard Ilczyszyn tragically suffered a massive pulmonary embolism1 while locked inside an airplane lavatory during the final stages of a flight from Oakland to Orange County. Rather than treating Ilczyszyn’s circumstances as a medical emergency, the flight crew perceived him to be a security threat. As a result, he did not receive medical care until after the flight had landed and the other passengers had disembarked. By then, he had gone into cardiac arrest. Although he was resuscitated, he later died in a hospital. Ilczyszyn’s widow Kelly, together with his three children, sued defendant Southwest Airlines Co. (Southwest) alleging that the flight crew’s failure to provide medical assistance caused his

A pulmonary embolism occurs when an internal blood clot breaks off 1

and travels via the veins through the heart, lodging in a pulmonary artery and blocking blood flow to the lungs.

death. Following a lengthy trial, the jury found that Southwest was negligent but found against plaintiffs on the issue of causation. On appeal, plaintiffs assert that the trial court erred in ruling at the outset of trial that Southwest was immune from liability under both title 49 United States Code section 44941 (section 44941)2 of the Aviation and Transportation Security Act, and Civil Code section 47, subdivision (b) for any act or omission occurring after the flight crew decided to treat Ilczyszyn’s medical emergency as a security threat. Plaintiffs contend these statutory immunities apply only to the actual disclosure of a security threat, and not to conduct associated with such disclosures. They also maintain that the immunity is inapplicable here because the gravamen of their case was based solely on the flight crew’s negligent failure to identify the medical emergency and provide aid. They argue that the court’s alleged error limited both the admissibility of their evidence and the scope of their arguments, making it impossible for them to prove the element of causation. We conclude that the trial court properly applied section 44941 immunity. Accordingly, we affirm.